I thought that we might see the new iOS version 4.2 for the iPad and iPhone this week, and it is still possible that we will see it today. Otherwise hopefully we will get this update next week. Here are the news items of note from this past week:
- Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times identifies 10 must-have iPhone apps.
- Erin Coe of Law360 talked to me and a bunch of other attorneys to compile this list of Top 10 Apps for Lawyers.
- New Orleans attorney Ernie Svenson writes about AudioPress, an app he finds useful for people who like to listen to podcasts. I listen to podcasts on my iPhone all the time, but since I sync every night, the iPod app on the iPhone does the job just fine for me. On occasion, I will access a podcast using the iTunes app and stream it when it is not yet downloaded to my iPhone — a task which works much better in iOS 4 than it did in the past.
- Casey Tschida of AppAdvice reviews the new 3.0 update to Scanner Pro.
- Apple has sold iTunes gift cards for a long time, and they can be used to purchase music, apps or iBooks. Eric Slivka of MacRumors reports that Apple is now selling iBooks gift cards in $25 and $50 amounts. It is unclear whether those gift cards can be used to purchase anything on iTunes, not just books. If someone gives you one of these to enrich your mind with a new book, I promise not to tell if you instead use it to buy Angry Birds and other game apps.
- Ram Arumugam of Cascade Software, developer of the Economy app for the iPhone and iPad, wrote an interesting article about how Steve Jobs himself called him up to explain why his app was not being approved until a feature was removed.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote an excellent article on the pricing of Apple products. A good read.
- From November 20, 2010 to January 2, 2011, if you fly on an AirTran, Delta or Virgin America plane that offers Gogo inflight Wi-Fi (which I reviewed here), Google is paying the cost of the service. A great way to use your iPhone or iPad in the air while you are traveling for the holidays.
- MacNN reports on a new survey showing that "corporate adoption of the iPad is growing rapidly." Adoption of the iPad in my personal office has increased substantially now that I finally own one.
- Sam Oliver of AppleInsider writes about a Gartner report that urges CEOs to speed up iPad adoption at their companies.
- And finally, it isn't often that the famous Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward promotes an app, but when the app is the new Washington Post iPad app, he makes an exception. This is a cute promotional video. (My favorite line: "Hey, was that Robert Redford?") By the way, I've been trying this app this week, and it is very nicely done, and free for the next few months even if you don't subscribe to the Post.
